Cambropallas trilobites

[Aurelius]

Can anyone please spare any thoughts about these? You see loads on eBay, spanning from laughable forgeries, to partially real, to entirely real. Not sure about these. My guess would be at least partially real, but I'd be interested in the thoughts of anyone more experienced.

[Fossildude19]

These look mostly real to me.

Maybe some restoration, ... and some shoddy prep work. 

Wait for other opinions, though. 

 

[Kosmoceras]

They're both real but there are restored areas (in red). I'm not sure about the parts in yellow, I'd want to see some better photos of those sections (or better still have it to hand) before coming to a conclusion.

[Douvilleiceras]

The pleurae have been manipulated on both specimens - some of the segments were crudely etched into the bug. You can even see one spot on the left trilobite where the Moroccans make a mistake, leaving a Y-shaped fork. Sadly, too many of these beautiful, huge trilobites have been destroyed with poor prep and restoration...

 

I'd pass - wait for a natural bug so you can truly admire it.

[Aurelius]

Thanks, I probably will. They're currently cheap, and I've always wanted a reasonable one of these, but I don't exactly have money to burn.

[fossilized6s]

I echo the others, mostly real, poor prep. But nice association if it isn't glued together (you could tell from the back). I would buy it and attempt to fix it if the price was right. 

[Haravex]

I have found it best with a piece of advice from a forum member i read somewhere (sorry I have forgotten your name so I don't claim this is my idea at all) to invert the image to help visualize what has been restored or faked.

[Aurelius]

Here's a photo of the back. The 'made in Morocco sticker' doesn't inspire confidence 

[Aurelius]

I didn't go for it in the end - it sold for $46 + postage. 

[Tidgy's Dad]

That's cheap. 

Those are real trilobites, but as has been said , the Moroccans often can't help themselves and fiddle about with them. 

Often a lot of the paler coloured stuff is added, but not necessarily in this case. 

The rock being broken through on the reverse is a sign that they did break it open and worked to reveal something they discovered, but in this case tried to make it look better than it was 

Certain details have been exaggerated or added on.

Also the details of the one underneath, where it almost meets the upper specimen are nowhere revealed. 

This suggests to me that the lower one was found first, but had no left hand side, so the other one was dumped on top to disguise the fact. 

Not certain of any of this, but I do know that is often how it works here. 

[Aurelius]

27 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

 

Those are real trilobites, but as has been said , the Moroccans often can't help themselves and fiddle about with them. 

 

 

It's such a shame. You'd think they'd get even more money for them if they just left them alone, but perhaps tourists and so on simply don't know the difference. I'd pay considerably more for my mosasaur jaws if they hadn't been interfered with.

[Tidgy's Dad]

1 minute ago, Aurelius said:

 

It's such a shame. You'd think they'd get even more money for them if they just left them alone, but perhaps tourists and so on simply don't know the difference. I'd pay considerably more for my mosasaur jaws if they hadn't been interfered with.

I keep telling people this. 

But the collectors , the guys who do the preparation and the dealers don't really communicate with each other and they certainly can't understand why someone would want an 'imperfect' piece. Very few deal directly through the net and the majority of sales are through tourists to the areas who don't know any better (and won't haggle). The things do look good to the untrained eye. 

It drives me crazy when they get beautiful ammonites and carve out the middle to give them perfect whorls. 

Trust me, these guys would 'improve' the Mona Lisa if they got hold of it. 

[Aurelius]

The biggest pain for me is when they find a large jaw which doesn't have all the teeth. They then fill the gaps with crowns of a type they have plenty of, and actually remove and replace the genuine crowns so that they all match! It's just tragic and destroys what could be important fossils. That said, I'd love to go over myself one day.

[Douvilleiceras]

52 minutes ago, Tidgy's Dad said:

Often a lot of the paler coloured stuff is added, but not necessarily in this case. 

In the case of Moroccan Cambropallas trilobites, this would be a form of iron oxide - the same material as the trilobite itself. 

[Tidgy's Dad]

4 minutes ago, Douvilleiceras said:

In the case of Moroccan Cambropallas trilobites, this would be a form of iron oxide - the same material as the trilobite itself. 

Indeed, but it is used as a cover for additions as well. 

if you can't quite get the colours to match, say it's iron oxide, ochre, or whatever. 

Though as i say, perhaps not in this case.